DELHI DAREDEVILS

Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Magnificent McGrath leads Delhi to victory against Banglore

New Delhi: Glenn McGrath shattered the twin myth that Twenty20 is essentially a youngsters' game with an obvious bias towards batsmen as the beanpole Aussie claimed IPL's first four-wicket haul to guide Delhi Daredevils to a 10-run win against Bangalore Royal Challengers here tonight.

Tags : Glenn McGrath,Delhi Daredevils, Royal Challengers,ipl, Indian Premier League,

Chasing 192 for victory, the Bangalore outfit came close to the target, thanks to efforts by Jacques Kallis (54 off 44 balls) and Rahul Dravid (38 off 30 balls), but it did not prove enough in the end as they ended up on 181 for five.

Earlier, after Royal Challengers skipper Rahul Dravid won the toss and inserted the hosts, the Daredevils rode on the 98-run second wicket stand between Gautam Gambhir (86) and Shikhar Dhawan (50) to post 191 for five.

The visitors sprang a surprise in their run chase by sending Praveen Kumar (6) as makeshift opener but the ploy fell flat on its face as old warhorse McGrath came up with a three-wicket burst in his first spell that had the Bangalore side in complete disarray.

McGrath scalped Praveen with his fifth delivery and removed Ross Taylor (29) and Wasim Jaffer in the fifth over to rock the visitors who were reeling at 48 for three.

Seasoned campaigners Dravid (38) and Kallis (54) shunned extravagance and almost slyly accumulated runs, pushing the score past 100 mark with occasional moments of belligerence.

McGrath returned to haunt the visitors again as he scalped Dravid to break the association that had yielded 87 runs. The Australian returned an impressive figure of 4-0-29-4, first four-wicket haul in the tournament.

Daniel Vettori removed Kallis towards the end and Mark Boucher's 17-ball 31 was just not enough to force a win for the Bangalore side.

Earlier, twin half centuries by Gambhir and Dhawan saw the Daredevils inch close to 200 before falling nine-run shy of the mark. Gambhir's 54-ball knock included 11 fours and a six before he fell to Zaheer Khan, while Dhawan's 50 came off 33 balls and included four fours and three sixes.

A subdued start by the Delhi openers proved the lull before the storm and Zaheer bore the brunt of the attack by Gambhir and Virender Sehwag (24).

Gambhir whacked Zaheer for three successive boundaries in the second over before training the gun on Steyn who was walloped for two fours in the third over.

Sehwag (24) seemed in no mood to allow his left-handed partner steal the thunder and as he hit Zaheer over mid-wicket for the maximum, followed it with a crisp flick that raced to square leg boundary and then spanked one over the sight-screen for the second six of the over.

Just when he was looking dangerous, Ross Taylor's direct throw had him back in the hut after a 12-ball cameo.

Jacques Kallis and Praveen Kumar put a brake on the flow of boundaries but Dhawan and Gambhir soon decided to up the ante and they took turn to hit Sunil Joshi for a six each in the spinner's first over.

Dhawan clobbered Kallis over mid-wicket ropes and hared for a single to complete his fifty but Dravid pulled off a blinder at short mid-wicket in the same over to send him back.

Steyn rattled Shoaib Malik's (6) timbers while Kallis broke Dinesh Karthik's (2) off-stump but Zaheer silenced the stadium when he had Gambhir caught in the deep in the 19th over.

McGrath was deservedly adjudged man of the match.

Tuesday, April 29, 2008

IPL - 13th Match Kings XI Punjab Vs Delhi Daredevils Full Highlights

Saturday, April 19, 2008

Gambhir and Dhawan seal Delhi win

Delhi Daredevils 132 for 1 (Gambhir 58*, Dhawan 52*) beat Rajasthan Royals 129 for 8 by 9 wickets.

After two first-innings totals which had gone in excess of 200, the bowlers at last had their say at the Feroz Shah Kotla, as Delhi Daredevils thrashed Rajasthan Royals by nine wickets in a disappointingly one-sided game. Rajasthan didn't have a chance after their batsmen had floundered badly, putting up a dismal 129 on the board. Gautam Gambhir's unbeaten 58, and his 112-run partnership with Shikhar Dhawan - who helped himself to a half-century as well - finished off the run-chase in a mere 15.1 overs.

The only bit that went right for Rajasthan was the toss, which Shane Warne, their captain, won and had little hesitation in choosing to bat. When Taruvar Kohli survived five deliveries from Glenn McGrath in the corridor and spanked the sixth one over cover point for six, it seemed the run-fest had started all over again. As it turned out, Rajasthan had little to celebrate thereafter. In his next over, Kohli chanced his arm again against McGrath, but only found Mithun Manhas at midwicket. McGrath went on to bowl the first maiden over of the tournament, and from there Delhi never let the initiative slip.

Rajasthan did their cause no favours with two run-outs, which severely hampered their momentum. Shane Watson hinted at carrying on the good work that his fellow Australians had managed earlier in the day in Mohali, pulling McGrath and Brett Geeves for fours, but his resistance was ended swiftly following a misunderstanding with Mohammad Kaif. Yusuf Pathan had already fallen to the run-out route earlier, and when Kaif, who struggled to find the gaps and the runs, scooped one to Geeves at short fine leg, Rajasthan had slumped to 57 for 5.

In a team which had the immense figures of McGrath and Daniel Vettori in their bowling line-up, the hero of the day was Farveez Maharoof, who bowled with excellent control, changing his pace and offering the batsmen no width to score off. His dismissal of Darren Lehmann, who was trapped on the shuffle, was another blow to Rajasthan's hopes of getting a challenging total on the board.

Ravindra Jadeja, the left-hand batsman, offered some resistance, hitting Vettori for a six and a four off his first two balls, but Vettori had the last laugh, deceiving him with a quicker one which rattled the stumps. Warne and Dinesh Salunkhe ensured that Delhi needed to score at more than a run a ball, but on a flat pitch against a batting line-up which included Virender Sehwag and Gambhir at the top of the order, there was little chance of defending that score.

Their opening partnership lasted just ten balls, but it was enough to set the tone for the run-chase. Gambhir's slash and straight drive in the first over off Munaf Patel both found the boundary, while Sehwag had the home crowd on their feet and cheering wildly after just three balls, all of which sped to different parts of the ground: a lofted straight drive over Watson's head, a spanking pull through midwicket, and then the best shot of them all - a delectable late cut between the wicketkeeper and slip. That, unfortunately, was as good as it got, as Watson hit back, ripping a quick one which rattled the stumps off the pads.

Nothing could stop Gambhir, though, as he continued the Twenty20 form he had shown in the World Cup in South Africa. An audacious extra-cover drive for six and a late cut off Munaf quickly brought the asking rate below a run a ball, after which it was a cool canter.

Rajasthan's one hope was their captain, Warne, but Gambhir and Dhawan didn't allow him to settle in either, sweeping and pulling him for fours even as Warne's reactions suggested he was only a whisker away from a wicket. He pulled himself off the attack after just two overs, and the rest was a mere formality.

Tags : Delhi Daredevils, ipl, Indian Premier League,Gambhir,Dhawan,First Match,Match Result

Warne wins toss, Rajasthan Royals bat first.

Rajasthan Royals captain Shane Warne won the toss and decided to bat first against Delhi Daredevils in the Indian Premier League match at the Ferozeshah Kotla Stadium here today.

Teams :

Rajasthan Royals: Shane Warne (Capt), Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammad Kaif, Taruwar Kohli, Darren Lehmann, Munaf Patel, Yusuf Pathan, Mahesh Rawat, Dinesh Salunkhe, Shane Watson, Siddharth Trivedi.

Coach: Shane Warne

Delhi Daredevils - Virender Sehwag (Capt), Rajat Bhatia, Shikhar Dhawan, Gautam Gambhir, Brett Geeves, Dinesh Karthik, Glenn McGrath, Farveez Maharoof, Mithun Manhas, Manoj Tiwary, Daniel Vettori.

Coach: Greg Shipperd.

Umpires: G A Pratap Kumar and Aleem Dar.

Third Umpire: Ian Howell

Tags : Delhi Daredevils,Rajashtan Royals,First Match,ipl, Indian Premier League,

McGrath begins training with Delhi Daredevils

Glenn McGrath arrived in Delhi on Tuesday night © Getty Images

Glenn McGrath, the former Australian fast bowler, heads a list of international cricketers who have arrived early in India to take part in practice sessions with their respective franchise teams for the Indian Premier League Twenty20 tournament starting on April 18.

McGrath, who retired from international cricket last year, arrived in Delhi on Tuesday night and attended fielding drills on Wednesday morning with Delhi Daredevils, the franchise that bought him for US$ 350,000 at the players' auction in February. Delhi's support staff, including the Victoria coach Greg Shippard has also arrived for the IPL.

"What has amazed us here is the kind of commitment McGrath has shown already," TA Sekar, the cricket manager of Delhi Daredevils, told Cricinfo. "Almost as soon as he landed last night, he enquired about the practice sessions and insisted that he would start from this morning itself. You would have expected him to take some time to settle down first."

While McGrath joined Daniel Vettori, the New Zealand captain, who also landed in Delhi this week, the seven other franchises were expecting many of their big signings to reach India over the coming weekend. The Hyderabad franchise was expecting its Australian players, Andrew Symonds and Adam Gilchrist, to reach on April 12; Jaipur hoped Shane Warne, its captain and coach, would arrive on April 13; Mumbai and Kolkata will start assembling their line-ups on April 11.

Among the others who have arrived are New Zealand allrounder Scott Styris and Sri Lankan fast bowler Nuwan Zoysa for Hyderabad. While most of the franchises started practice sessions with domestic players, the Indian and South African Test players will join their teams almost immediately after their bilateral series ends on April 15.

Some of the Sri Lankans, who are currently in the West Indies, are expected to start arriving on April 16. Dimitri Mascarenhas, the lone England player in IPL, is expected to land much later due to personal commitments and may even miss one or two games for Jaipur, a team representative said.

Tags : McGrath,ipl, Indian Premier League,Delhi Daredevils,

Saturday, March 29, 2008